Friday, October 31, 2008

First snow

We had our first big snow of the season on Tuesday night. It was heavy, wet snow, with a high wind, and I have terrible news - my damson plum tree wasn't strong enough to withstand the burden and it broke! The trunk snapped 5' from the ground. I was just shattered when I saw that on Wednesday morning - I cried all day. Dean says we can get another one, but they're very rare and hard to find - it took me 5 years of searching before I happened to find one in a local nursery. And it was growing so beautifully, too - it was almost 13' high and so graceful. I can still hardly stand to look out the window now, because I see it every time.

6 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Almost the same thing happened to our apricot tree here in BC. The first winter after I planted it was unusually cold, and frost killed the top off to about three feet. On the advice of my nursery expert, I just tidied up the breaks in the spring and left it alone. It's now a beautiful 25' high, and thriving.

Many old trees in the old neighborhoods of Omaha (Warren Buffet's)were uprooted when we had an incredible windstorm in Omaha several months back. I had several friends that took the branches and turned them into art, which I have on my walls. I nice way to memorialize them.

If I recall correctly from when I was in the Ottawa area years ago, Laporte on Old Montreal Rd west of the road to the ferry in Cumberland grew their own trees for sale. They had quite a few fruit trees.

I don't know what the import issues are, but dwarf, semi-dwarf and regular Damsons are available at nurseries around the Twin Cities (Zone 4). I could do a little research for you in the spring if you wish.

Oh, thank you Bob! I would be interested in getting the name of an American seller of damsons - I expect the required permits to import a plant would be obtained at my end. I can look that up over the winter. And I will see if Laporte's is still there and if they sell damsons.

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About Me

I'm a married lady with 3 kids, all at different spots on the autism spectrum. In my spare time I translate and create English subtitles for obscure French movies. I also bake, garden and build computers.